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Prevent Windows 10 From Reinstalling Built-in Apps

Many users have spotted that Windows 10 automatically reinstalls built-in (provisioned) first-party apps like Photos, Groove Music, even if they were removed with PowerShell or uninstalled by right clicking. Without the user explicitly asking to reinstall these apps, the operating system installs them again when a major update arrives. This behavior is extremely frustrating. Depending on your country and region, the set of first-party apps may vary.

Windows 10 includes a number of Store apps which come pre-installed with the OS. These apps are installed for each user account. When you create a new user account, Windows 10 installs them for this new user. While it is possible to remove most of the first-party apps, every major (feature) update makes them return again.

This only applies to first-party apps that shipped with Windows 10. This doesn't apply to third-party apps, Microsoft Store apps, or LOB apps.To remove a provisioned app, you need to remove the provisioning package. The apps might reappear if you removed the packages in one of the following ways:

If you removed the packages while the wim file was mounted when the device was offline.

If you removed the packages by running a PowerShell cmdlet on the device while Windows was online. Although the apps won't appear for new users, you'll still see the apps for the user account you signed in as.

To Prevent Windows 10 From Installing Unwanted Apps

Identify any provisioned apps you want removed. Record the package name for each app.

Create a .reg file to generate a registry key for each app. Use the list of Windows 10, version 1709 registry keys below as your starting point.

Paste the list of registry keys into Notepad (or a text editor).

Remove the registry keys belonging to the apps you want to keep. For example, if you want to keep the Bing Weather app, delete this registry key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\Deprovisioned\Microsoft.BingWeather_8wekyb3d8 bbwe]

Save the file with a .txt extension, then right-click the file and change the extension to .reg.

Double-click the .reg file to create the registry keys. You can see the new keys in HKLM\path-to-reg-keys.

The list of Registry keys for Windows 10 apps

Copy the desired Registry keys from the list below to prevent apps from being installed automatically. For reference, use the table below to identify the package/app for the appropriate Registry key.

Edit the file "Prevent Windows 10 apps from being installed.reg" according to your preferences, then double-click on it to apply. Applying the tweak without editing will block automatic installation for all unwanted apps at once.

About Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer from Russia who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.